Market Scan

VISA Touts Progress with Contactless Technology

VISA has announced additional progress with its contactless payment technology, VISA PayWave.  For the press release, click here.

Web Seminar on Merchant Back Office Conversion & Best Practices in Remote Deposit Capture

On September 24, 2007 at 1:30 pm Eastern, Panini will sponsor a web seminar on Merchant Back Office Conversion and RDC Best Practices.  Bob Meara, a senior analyst with Celent, will present on RDC Best Practices.  Mr. Meara recently wrote a report of the same name which featured some orginal research on the topic.

To register, click here.  Its a freebie and includes a drawing for $500!

Wells Fargo Announces Mobile Banking for Businesses

Wells Fargo announced that it will offer mobile banking to small business customers:

"Once enrolled in the Wells Fargo Mobile service, small business customers can check balances of their small business and personal deposit and credit accounts, view transaction history, and transfer money between eligible Wells Fargo accounts on any Web-enabled mobile device by accessing the mobile banking URL wf.com."

The press release goes on to state that Wells Fargo has offered mobile banking to its commercial customer since May through its CEO Mobile service.  A prior press release states:

"CEO Mobile delivers key treasury reports to business executives through a secure browser session. Later this year, Wells Fargo plans to add functionality for wire approvals; positive pay, to authenticate checks issued against a business's account; and administrative tasks, such as password resets."

For the most recent press release, click here.

Its Official: JPMorgan Chase Announces SMS Based Mobile Banking

Props to Brandon McGee over at the Mobile Banking & Money Blog for the scoop.  Now its official:

http://investor.shareholder.com/JPMorganChase/press/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=264788&ReleaseType=Current

Deutsche Bank Announces SEPA Strategy to offer "Financial Benefits"

Deutsche Bank announced that its SEPA (Single European Payment Area) strategy will offer financial benefits to corporations.  More accurately, Deutsche Bank has identified four mitigation strategies to lessen the inconvience to corporate customers:

• Treat SEPA payments like legacy domestic mass payments
• Insulate clients in their migration to SEPA through the enhancement of internationally popular payment formats such as IDOC, CSV and EDIFACT
• Use existing accounts for SEPA payments
• Add product features to ease the transition

In combination, these mitigation strategies will allow customers to continue using the same accounts, data formats, and communication protocols to communicate payment instructions.

Comerica Announces Leadership in Pre-Paid Commercial Cards

According to the Nilson Report, Comerica is #1 issuer of Pre-Paid Commercial Cards, #3 issuer of fleet cards, #9 issuer of corporate cards, and #17 issuer of purchasing cards.

Commentary

This is a nice niche for the $58 billion asset Comerica which is currently relocating its corporate headquarters from Detroit to Dallas.

Bank of America Hires Fidelity Executive to Drive Business Retirement Solutions

Bank of America has hired Bill Carey, formerly President of Fidelity's Registered Investment Advisor Group, to drive the development and distribution of business retirement solutions.  Mr. Carey will report to Cary Grace, Mid-Market Institutional executive.  According to Ms. Grace, "Institutional retirement represents an area of significant opportunity and focus for Bank of America.  A seasoned veteran and leader in the retirement market, Bill will drive the expansion of capabilities used to deliver retirement solutions to business clients across the bank and accelerate our growth efforts in this dynamic market."  For the full press release, click here.

Patent Award Update

7,272,259    Systems and methods for capturing handwritten information using handwriting analysis (Asignee:  Computer Sciences Corporation)

7,270,264    Cash dispensing automated banking machine with interlocking sheet metal parts (Asignee:  Diebold)

JPMorgan Chase Offers SMS-based Mobile Banking

Brandon McGee over at the Mobile Banking & Money Blog reports that JPMorgan Chase has begun offering SMS based mobile banking. 

Patent Award Update

Market Scan now monitors the U.S. Patent Office.  Whenever a new patent is awarded for banking or payments innovation, Market Scan will publish the patent number, patent description, and assignee (where applicable).

7,269,575     System and method for processing foreign currency payment instructions contained in bulk files (Asignee:  JPMorgan Chase)

7,269,256     Electronic-monetary system

7,267,265     Cash dispensing automated banking machine maintenance system and method (Assignee:  Diebold Corporation)

7,267,264     System and method for verifying the authenticity of a check and authorizing payment thereof